Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and former SNP chief executive is accused of embezzling £459,000 over a 12-year period. Peter Murrell, 61, now estranged from Ms Sturgeon, is facing an embezzlement charge. According to the indictment, Mr Murrell is accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds between August 2010 and January 2023.Also, he is accused of using the funds to buy luxury items, such as jewellery, cosmetics, two cars and a motorhome.
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One of the most extravagant purchases was a £124,550 motorhome and had it transported over 300 miles to near his mother’s home in Dunfermline in Fife, the Scottish Sun reports. Court documents claim Mr Murell “took possession” of the motorhome at Halbeath Industrial Estate in Dunfermline before “storing” it at his mother’s property. Mr Murrell is due to appear at the High Court in Glasgow in a week’s time, February 20, for a preliminary hearing in the case. Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband was arrested in 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, a police investigation into the finances and funding of the SNP, to which he was consequently charged with embezzlement in 2024. Ms Sturgeon was also questioned by police at the time, but is no longer under investigation.
The indictment papers were seen by BBC News, but are subject to change until Mr Murrell appears in court and can be amended throughout the judicial process.
The other purchases in question include using over £50,000 of SNP money to buy an £81,000 Jaguar I-PACE car in 2019.
Mr Murrell is also accused of forging an invoice “in an attempt to disguise the true nature” of the purchase and when the car was sold in 2021, over £47,000 was sent to his personal bank account. LATEST DEVELOPMENTSUnion chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer amid Reform landslide fearsReform wins first seat on council in crushing defeat for Labour as PM fights for his political lifeLabour MP rejects ‘meltdown’ claims as axed civil servant gets £260k payoutAlso, the purchase of a Volkswagen Golf allegedly included funds from the SNP, with over £16,000 of the political party’s money going towards the German car’s £33,000 price tag.An indictment also alleges Mr Murrell made personal purchases totalling more than £159,000 between December 2014 and 2022 using credit or charge cards belonging to the Scottish National Party.Prosecutors claim the spending took place at more than 80 retailers, including Harrods, the Royal Mint, John Lewis, Homebase and Argos. The indictment states the items were allegedly for Mr Murrell’s own personal use or for the personal use of others.It further alleges that “false or inaccurate accounting codes and descriptions” were entered into party accounting systems to conceal the nature of the purchases.In addition, the former SNP executive is accused of making purchases worth more than £81,600 through online retailer Amazon in the same manner.He is also accused of using SNP’s money for smaller transactions, using political money to pay a parking ticket in October 2019.Using the SNP card, he allegedly paid a £30 fixed penalty charge notice which was issued to him at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Mr Murrell served as the SNP’s chief executive for 22 years.He married Nicola Sturgeon in 2010, though the former party leader and first minister announced their separation in January 2025.Ms Sturgeon, former first minister, said the decision to separate with Mr Murrell has been made “with a heavy heart”. On an Instagram post, she said: “To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.“It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will.”
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